Only Once
by The Green Light Wolf
Summary: On the anniversary of his parents deaths, only months after losing both Jason and Tula, Dick Grayson heads into Gotham to drown his sorrows and guilt. Misery loves company however, and he soon finds himself dialing the number of a certain red headed speedster. (A Standalone Fragment from the Young Justice: Metagene collection)


**Authors Note**

Heya. :) This will be the first addition to my Metagene collection, a series of standalone or short stories that are a part of my own personal Young Justice Universe! (That I do not own in any way). If you've been keeping up with the main fic, you'll know the gist of whats about to happen in this one. If not, I won't spoil it for you. ;)

* * *

**From the Young Justice: Metagene ****Collection**

**A Standalone Fragment**

**Only Once**

* * *

**Mount Justice.**

**April 1st, 2015. 1700 UTC.**

It had been a long day.

Nightwings fingers danced across a holographic keyboard in the war room of Mount Justice, adding the finishing details to his report. The mission had been an overwhelming success. His squad, made up of Beastboy, Robin and Bumblebee, had successfully uncovered a scheme by Sofia Falcone to upset the economy of Metropolis and put a stop to the mobsters plans. As he recalled the mission, Nightwings eyes narrowed slightly. Tim moved so differently from Jason. All precision and thought out strikes rather than raw, unbridled anger, but from the back, they looked so similar. Shaking his memories off before they threatened to bring up the emotions he'd been fighting to control for months, he pressed send on the report and waved the screen away.

"You're supposed to be finished for the night." A voice behind him said and Nightwing smiled, turning around to catch Batgirl in his arms.

"I just sent away the report." He replied, leaning forward to greet his girlfriend with a kiss. "What are you, my keeper?"

"As of two minutes ago, yeah I am. The fearless leader of the Team." Batgirl chuckled.

"Interim leader of the Team. Just until tomorrow." Nightwing reminded her, separating from the female. "Thanks for doing this."

"You're kidding right? Artemis and Wally would gladly come out of their retirement to give you the night off." Batgirl said, concern flashing in her eyes. "Are you sure you don't want me to call Wally?"

"Nah. He's way too busy with the student life." Nightwing's smile was beginning to wane at the corners and he turned away, marching towards the Zeta tubes with a forced pep in his step. "I'm about to get the best nights sleep I've had in months!"

_B-01. Nightwing._

* * *

**Gotham City.**

**April 1st, 2015. 1710 UTC.**

As soon as he stepped out of the pay phone box that doubled as a Zeta projector, Nightwings smile fell and his shoulders slumped. A heavy sigh escaped his lips as the reality of the date set in and he forced himself to shoot a grappling hook upwards, taking to the rooftops to traverse to his nearby safe house. Upon reaching it, he peeled off his costume and had a steaming hot shower, before dressing in some civvies and sinking into the raggedy couch in his lounge. Memories began speeding to the forefront of his mind, unabated.

Cradling Jason's still warm corpse in his arms as screamed at Konnor that the clone was wrong about his successors lack of a heartbeat.

Watching Garth and Kaldur frantically toss rubble aside to get to Tula's body after she sacrificed herself to stop Tiamat, despite Dicks pleas to find an alternative.

Arguing with Bruce again, and again, and again. When Dick left the mantle of Robin behind. When Jason died. When Tim was taken on so soon after Jason was taken from them. Even days ago, over something he couldn't even recall.

And finally, the image that had haunted him since he was nine finally clawed its way into the limelight. Looking down at his parents as they fell to their deaths, their bodies hitting the ground at awkward angles and bones snapping in angles that would have rendered their limbs utterly useless if the Flying Graysons had somehow survived.

A shudder ran through Dicks entire body, snapping him out of the memory fueled trance he'd fallen into. He struggled to catch his breath, clenching his fists as he forced the air into his lungs, then back out. Rinse and repeat. Once he regained himself, the former Boy Wonder went for the door, checking to make sure he had his fake ID before heading out the door. Dick was only eighteen, three years shy of the legal limit in the United States. It would be easy for him to Zeta to a country where the drinking age was his own, but it didn't really matter. He was in Gotham after all.

It didn't take him long to reach a club, due to the fact he'd borrowed a car from Alfred weeks ago and even less time to actually get in. The bouncer didn't even look at his ID and just waved him past. Slipping through the crowd with years of practiced ease, Dick found himself at the bar and immediately ordered a drink. One of the things about this particular club, aside from the fact that it ran 24/7, was that the bartenders always put extra alcohol in the mixes. Somebody with a little more self awareness would realize that this happened because of the face and body that Dick Grayson had been blessed with, but the eighteen year old was not observant when it came to his actual life away from the Team and vigilante exploits.

Dick paced himself, working his way through his drinks while doing his best to forget about the day that it was, and everything that had been troubling him for the past few months. By the time the clock clicked around to ten PM, Dick had reached his limit when it came to emotional strength. He stared down at his latest drink, memories of his parents fall once more threatening to attack from the periphery. Dick's mind wasn't completely muddled by the alcohol, he had significant resistance due to his training under the Bat after all, but he certainly wasn't at his best when it came to his intellectual functions. Which is why his mind suddenly went to another problem, one less damning but heartbreaking all the same.

Wally West.

Speedster extraordinaire.

Collector of souvenirs.

His best friend of forever and a half.

A former comrade in arms on the Team, now retired.

Those were all acceptable things about the red head. Everything on that mental list was okay to say about Wally, everything on that list was okay to think about Wally. Things Dick couldn't think about his best friend were anything that would cause Wallys girlfriend to stick an arrow in an uncomfortable place on the vigilante. Dick couldn't think about Wally's bright smile, glowing eyes and strong jawline. He couldn't think about the amount of times he'd dropped a flirtatious line to Wally that the speedster hadn't seemed to properly process. And he certainly couldn't think about Wally's lean yet muscular body, especially because he'd seen the speedster naked multiple times in the years of friendship, including as recently as two months prior. A _completely _unfortunate perk from working so closely with him.

Something clicked and Dick found himself taking his phone out of his pocket, empowered by the alcohol or his hormones, and dialing Wally's number. It only rung twice before the other line opened.

"Hey Dick." Wally sounded like he was in the middle of eating something. Not surprising. "You okay?"

"Yip." Dick replied, adding a little bit of a slur to his next words. "Was juss wonderin' if you wanna come have a drink with me?"

"In other words, you want me to come drive you home right?" Wally's tone didn't sound annoyed at all. Rather, he sounded as cheerful as always.

"Please." Dick lied. His tolerance for alcohol hadn't been challenged that much. But his previous thoughts about Wally had caused him to want to see the speedster in the flesh. "I'd asssk Al, but Bruce would find out."

"Be there in a flash."

The line went dead, but Dick knew that meant Wally was on his way there at that very moment. And considering that the young man was the third fastest being on the planet, it definitely wouldn't take long for him to arrive.

* * *

**Gotham City.**

**April 1st, 2015. 2230 UTC.**

The door to Dicks safehouse swung open and he stumbled in, followed closely by Wally who closed the door behind them. Dick could feel his best friends eyes on him as he made for the couch, throwing himself down into it with a satisfied sigh. He felt a rush of air sweep across the back of his head and looked up to find Wally standing there with one of the bottles of water from his friend, holding it out expectantly.

"Party pooper." Dick pouted, rolling onto his back and taking the bottle of water.

"Look, I just don't want you to have a hangover tomorrow dude." Wally reasoned, moving to the end of the couch where Dicks feet were. The speedster lifted Dicks feet up, depositing himself on the couch and letting the younger males feet fall back down to rest on his lap. "Besides, using alcohol to cope with stuff isn't exactly the healthiest thing to do."

"I don't need lectures on health from the guy who consumes truckloads of calories a day." Dick retorted, unscrewing the cap of the bottle and downing half its contents in one go.

"You could have asked me to come out with you tonight you know." Wally continued, giving Dick a stern look. "I would have done it."

"Didn't wanna bother you." Dick shrugged.

"You do know that you called me anyway right? Just after the acceptable time to do so in the real world." Wally smirked, rolling his eyes softly. "Look, I'm here now, so you've gotta play host and entertain me til you do me the honor of passing out."

Dick stared at Wally silently for a few moments, his mind going to exactly the wrong place when it came to what he could do to entertain Wally. Eventually, the speedster caught his gaze and raised an eyebrow, causing Dick to look away and focus on downing the rest of his drink while thinking of ways he could calm his hormones down. The whole situation had really been a bad idea, especially with alcohol making him more daring than usual.

"Well, make yourself useful and go make up some popcorn and pizza while I flick through Netflix and find the latest slasher for us to view." Dick ordered, lifting his feet off Wally and making room for the speedster to get off the couch.

Wally did as asked, and the two of them settled into a double viewing of some generic horror flick series where the main cast ends up dying off one by one in the most gruesome ways possible. By the time it was over, the two of them were high in spirits, having spent half the time picking apart the films and making fun of their ludicrous nature, rather than actually paying attention. Of course, all good things must come to an end and Wally explained that he had to start heading back so he could make a test in a handful of hours.

"It's only ten percent. Thats not even that much." Dick grumbled as he got up off the couch, stumbling slightly only to be caught by Wally who acted as a strong support for him. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. And ten percent is heaps. Thats can be the difference between getting into next years class, and having to resit this years papers." Wally stated, making Dick put an arm over his shoulders while he rested a steadying hand near the acrobats hip. "Now, like I said, lets get you to bed."

Dick found himself acutely aware of exactly where Wally was touching him, and where he was touching Wally. There was a time where something like this would have been completely ignored by Dick, but now things were different. He swallowed thickly as he was half carried to his room, his nerves starting to flare up within his chest. A part of his brain whispered that this was the perfect time to kiss Wally, and his body agreed. Dick leaned in, silently and swiftly, drawing a confused look from Wally who stopped moving. Their lips connected powerfully and Dick, being Dick Grayson, immediately began to deepen the kiss. For all of ten seconds, the two of them locked lips and their tongues danced until Wally gently, but firmly, pushed Dick away. Both of them were at a loss for breath and Dick could feel that his cheeks were hot. Wally stared at him, chest rising and falling as he regained his composure.

"Huh." Wally finally said, before he began to help Dick move forward once more, moving into the eighteen year olds bedroom. "Man, I really wish I revised for this test more. Maybe I would have been able to if you didn't need saving in the middle of the night."

Dick was now the one to be confused. He'd been expecting some kind of reaction. In his wildest dreams, he'd never expected Wally to encourage his actions since the speedster was in a relationship, but his best friend didn't even seem at all bothered by what had just happened. The two came to stand over Dicks bed and the acrobat leaned in to try once more, but this time he was stopped by Wally's hand on his chest.

"I'm flattered Dick, really, but I can't go round letting you get more than one free liplock. Artemis would probably find a way to kill me if she found out I decided to come over here just to makeout with you all night." Wally laughed, and at the sight of Dicks rapidly deteriorating expression, he sobered up. "It wasn't like... bad or anything but- Hey Dick? Dick whats wrong?"

"Fuck!" Dick exclaimed, falling down to sit on his bed and cradle his head in his hands, tears bursting forth. "I can't do anything right anymore!"

"Wait what?" Wally was immediately at his side, a reassuring hand rubbing circles on his back. "That's not true."

"My parents are gone. I let Jason die." Dick's voice cracked. "I killed Tula. I drove Bruce away for stupid reasons and now I'm going to lose you too, just because I can't control myself!"

"You didn't let Jason die and you definitely aren't responsible for what happened to Tula." Wally reassured him softly. "Whats going on with you and Bruce, it happens. You guys will sort it out eventually and you'll laugh about this some day." With his other hand, Wally put a finger under Dicks chin and forced his friend to look at him. "And you're not losing me. What kind of friend would I be if I let a little kiss ruin years of awesome memories?"

"You're just saying that. You'll disappear one day, just like everybody else who gets close to me." Tears continued to fall as Dick spoke, his voice shaky and his entire body quaking.

"Dick." The way Wally said his name caused the young man in question to cease his vibration, though his tears still fell slowly. "I'm not going anywhere. We're best friends and we always will be."

"P-promise?" It was a childish request, but Dick wasn't in his right mind in that moment.

"Yup." Wally said, before making a serious face. "Do you uh... have a breakdown every time you makeout with somebody? Because that's a lot of breakdowns."

A gleam shone in Wally's eye and something about his words got through to Dick, the former boy wonder letting out a pitiful laugh, followed by a much more pronounced stream of amused sounds. Wiping the tears from his eyes, Dick leaned forward to hug Wally, which the speedster responded to by wrapping his arms right around the slightly leaner young man. They remained this way for several minutes before Dick finally pulled away, a soft smile playing on his lips.

"Thanks Wall." He said, before letting out a powerful yawn.

"I should be thanking you. I'm the first guy that got the privilege to lock lips with Dick Grayson." Wally returned his smile, before standing up. "Now get your butt into bed and sleep all those alcohol fueled misconceptions off."

"Can you uh..." Dick paused. "Could you stay? Just until I fall asleep."

"And now you want to snuggle with me? Did I win the lottery?" Wally chuckled, before nodding. "Heres hoping you fall asleep quickly so I can get home for some z's of my own."

Dick found his way under the covers and Wally climbed onto the bed as well, though he lay above the blankets. Body moving without his permission once more, Dick instinctively cuddled into his best friend, resting his head on the red heads chest. Wally stiffened up for a few seconds, but quickly relaxed and lay completely still to not disturb the younger male. It wasn't long before Dick fell asleep, a smile on his face as he did.


End file.
